Crafting A Rainbow

I made it! A whole month of wearing Cashmerette, and I loved my outfits every day!

(Well, almost every day – I realised on the last day that I had to wear a bright pink anti-bullying shirt to school, and i only had a red cardigan or a forest green t-shirt left!)

As I explain in my introduction post, this was a totally-for-fun challenge that basically began as a sewing dare between Jennifer from @weboughtamanor and I. It’s not sponsored – just a good-natured face-off between two superfans! We had a few other people jump in a join us, including my sister, which made it extra fun. Our rules were there there could be no repeats, and we had to wear Cashmerette every day.

So, how did it go?

I had enough clothes, and I feel good in them! I did a post beforehand rounding up all the clothing options I had that were seasonally appropriate. I also found a few other items I’d forgotten about or never blogged, and that helped. I didn’t do any emergency sewing, which quite surprised me! It helps that Cashmerette has only been around for two years, so everything I’ve sewn is still the right size.

I’ve sewn an awful lot of Concords! 12 of my items with variations on the Concord tee, including several styles of cardigans. There’s a reason this pattern is in my TNT shortlist!   

I wear a lot of pyjamas. On weekend, I shower late if at all, and usually wear pyjamas all day. My goal for this challenge was never to do my hair or wear makeup just to take an Instagram pic (which sounds crazy, but during Me-Made May I am more likely to get properly dressed more often). What you see in my weekend pictures is what you get: crazy hair, invisibly pale eyebrows, and super comfy clothes.

I only sew Cashmerette’s knit patterns. Not one woven made it into rotation this month, although I have two for summer months. I’ve tested a few of the wovens, and they are nice… but my dream wardrobe is all knits and stretch, all the time!

These really are my normal clothes. No one at work noticed anything odd in my wardrobe, or asked my why I’d worn the same styles again and again… because this really is a large chunk of my wardrobe! I missed wearing my Ebony tees and other knit dresses, cardigans and tops, but I felt cute and like myself every day. Me-Made May always tracks my spring wardrobe, so it was interesting to have a record of my winter clothes!

Speaking of winter… taking selfies at 7:20am as the sun was just rising was not ideal. At this time of year, it’s dark when I get home, so morning was really the only option… and with safety rules in schools, I really couldn’t take pictures easily at work. So while Jennifer and my sister had lovely full-length photos every day, I settled for whatever was generally in focus! I was hoping a selfie stick would e the answer, but I didn’t find it really made things any easier. My inner perfectionist struggled sometimes that these are the lowest quality pictures I’ve blogged in years… on the other, who cares, because this is not a photography challenge!

Now, on to my sister Anne, who managed an impressive ten days of wearing Cashmerette to work! Anne says,

“I had a blast with the Cashmerette Challenge, even though my Cashmerette wardrobe only has enough pieces for about half the month. The biggest takeaway from the challenge is that most of my favourite clothes were included! I think my body shape is similar enough to the Cashmerette block that most of the patterns fit without too much alteration — though Gillian, who has sewn most of my clothes, would have to verify that. (Agreed!) I can vouch that the Concord I made was a fairly straightforward fit, anyway! (Spot the plainest, least exciting fabric choice, to see which Concord Gillian DIDN’T sew!)

I love that from this one pattern line, I had dresses that I can wear to my most important business-y functions, to tees that I can lounge around in on the weekend. It was also a bit of a revelation to realize how many ways Gillian had hacked the same pattern, to change it up; it wasn’t until she came over and picked through my clothes that I realized that several of the tops were even based on Concords, for instance. 

         -Anne. aka. @anniebeeknits

Yes, we do indeed have a family bartering system of sewing in return for cat-shaped cookies and knit goods!

It’s definitely worth checking out the hashtag to see what Jennifer and the other participants wore – there were over 100 pictures tagged during February! My favourite part is seeing how different sewists adapt the same pattern line to suit their own body, lifestyle and preferences. I’d love to see other people take this challenge on celebrate their own favourite patternmakers!

For now, thank you to everyone who stuck with me thorough the daily outfit pics on Instagram all month! You all are the best! ❤